Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
Today, Singapore announced that they are downgrading their economic growth forecast models for 2020. The nation’s economy is coping with one of the highest counts of coronavirus cases outside of mainland China.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry, for Singapore, said that they now expect their gross domestic product to expand by half a percent this year. They downgraded their economic forecast models by -0.5 to 1.5 percent. This is below the original growth expectations of half a percent to 2.5 percent.
In their statement, the ministry said that “The (earlier) forecast was premised on a modest pickup in global growth, along with a recovery in the global electronics cycle, in 2020. Since then, the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected China, Singapore and many countries around the world.”
The USD/SGD currency exchange rate was trading down a fraction during the afternoon hours of the Asian trade session. Shares on the Singapore benchmark exchange SGX were up 0.9 percent.
Asian Traders also Monitor Beijing as Singapore Reacts
The Ministry of trade and Industry also said that “As the COVID-19 situation is still evolving, MTI will continue to monitor developments and their impact on the Singapore economy closely.”
China has announced that in order to support the economy and alleviate the shock of the coronavirus outbreak against business, that they will enact targeted tax breaks.
The Chinese Government, according to Finance Minister Liu Kun, in China’s Communist Party magazine Qiushi, said that they are planning fiscal stimulus and increasing government spending.
The Ministry of Finance also said that they would inject 8 billion yuan to support businesses as well as virus prevention and control. As of Friday, the Chinese Finance Ministry had already allocated over 90 billion yuan to support efforts in this area.
The Peoples’ Bank of China (PBOC) also announced monetary policy efforts to insulate the economy and spur economic growth. The PBOC has said that outbreak has hit China economy hard and in order to spur growth, they will cut rates on medium-term loans to businesses.
